I'm still alive, mind you.

It's been like, what, a year now?

You've probably already forgotten who I am by now. Just to ring a bell and jar you back to reality; I'm Astra Windlass. Daughter of Artemis. Left with two stars before I die and I'm freaking out. Should I write an autobiography to remind you?

Nah.

Since I'm too lazy to do so, I'll just recap you on what you've missed.

In the past year, there has been a very hazy interaction between our world and Ouranos'. There were a couple incidents, such as the toilet paper caper and the attempted candy kidnapping; both involving children from Camp Iniquitous. Not exactly head-on battles with weapons and such, but from when we first saw them, they have definitely grown since then. In height, and in strength.

No one, not even Chiron knows how capable they are. We can only hope that the impending war we all assume will happen won't end in any lives lost.

I haven't had any dreams like the one last year; where Ouranos told me to kill Chiron. Of course, I haven't made any attempts of assassination at my mentor; he's like a father figure to me. No murdering on my watch.

Anyways, Camp Half-Blood has slowly been preparing for another war against the Titans. Training regiments were getting tougher, Clarisse's punishments were getting smellier; the environment overall was so tense, you could cut it with a Celestial blade. After all, it was only a couple of years after the fight with Gaea, and now it was her husband's turn to rain his wrath onto New York. Yay.

It began on a nice, July afternoon. Nice, as in scorching hot and it felt as if the flesh was going to melt off of my bones. Apparently, during the winter, Apollo had turned into a human and was sent to Camp, had run-ins with some ghosts, blah blah blah, and I'm not even sure where he is right now. Probably frolicking with the dryads. I didn't really talk to him; he seemed so much weirder than when he was a god. I was worried his disease of teenage puberty and acne was going to spread to me.

Percy was in college, so he hardly had time to check up on us until now. Same goes for Annabeth, although I think she mentioned some problems with a cousin named Margo or Marcus or something. Us uneducated and procrastinating kids, like Lance and I, merely stayed at camp year round to make sure nothing goes wrong. They haven't stopped Iris-messaging us though; they always said if there was any major news, to let them know immediately.

And poor Jason; he's been so out of it ever since Piper disappeared. He's gone on small quests to find her, yet always came back alone. Iris-messages failed every time he tried to contact her, like static. We've all assumed that she's with the rest of the Aphrodite cabin, but the question constantly arises: Why did the Aphrodite cabin disappear, but not Venus' in Camp Jupiter?

There's Lance... I don't know what he's been up to. He's been with Jason on a couple of those quests, worked in the strawberry fields, and lead poetry circles with the Apollo cabin. We haven't had much time to talk, as due to our disorganized lives in the fight against Ouranos. Granted, my feelings for him are still a jumbled ball of I-have-no-idea, so that was alright, but it was sort of lonely without him. Shh, don't tell him I said that!

And finally, Austin.

I haven't seen him ever since the necklace incident at Camp Iniquitous. His screams still ring in my head to this day; what in Hades did he mean by not leaving him alone? Will had mentioned Austin acting strangely in the past, like an illness of sorts. I never noticed with the time I had with him; maybe back at their cabin?

I shake the thought out my head. This was not the time to get dragged down. I held up my sword and block an oncoming swing in front of me. "Lean your weight into your attack," I say while patting my shoulder as emphasis. "That makes it harder for your opponent to block."

The kid I was instructing nodded. He adjusted his position, swung again and I repeated my block. The grip on my sword shifted, and I dropped my weapon. "Wow, that actually worked!" He exclaimed. "Thanks, Astra!"

I nodded and smiled. "Be sure to ask Clarisse if you have any more questions. I only specialize in archery; not sword fighting."

"At least you don't give us killer wedgies if we mess up."

I stifle a laugh. "That's true, but sadly, I'm only your substitute for today. Be glad she came down with a minor cold." The demigod bowed and ran off. I wiped at my forehead with the sleeve of my shirt and took off the training armor. New demigods meant more training, and they definitely needed it for what was about to come. It was only a matter of time when Ouranos was going to strike.

You're probably thinking: Why in Hades is Astra acting so mature?

Well, over time I finally realized that I needed to take life seriously. With death impending and trying to free my father from Ouranos, the time to step up and lead our camp–, I'm just kidding. If possible, I'm even weirder than I used to be. Maybe it's the avoiding dance I usually do dodge Lance or the constant snacking of chocolate tacos; it could even be that I'm losing my marbles. A.K.A. stars. Ha. I've only been acting seriously around the newer campers; gotta look good for them, you know? I'm the only daughter of Artemis here; have to set a standard.

As I strolled past the volleyball court with drachmas in hand (I wanted ice cream), I was immediately slammed in the head with a, well could you guess? The gold coins rolled away down the hills of the camp. Took me weeks to make enough to buy a popsicle. Goodbye, maturity mask. "I SWEAR TO THE GODS, CONNOR, STOP HITTING ME EVERY TIME I WALK BY!" Picking up and chucking the ball in the air, I smashed a serve across the net and watched gleefully as it hit the child of Hermes' rib cage, which sent him flying across the sand.

"Never mess with a girl, man," Travis, who apparently was playing against him, merely shrugged at his brother's pain. "Haven't you learned that already?"

"You've got that right," I dusted off my hands and gave Travis a solid high five. "Connor, you owe me an ice cream."

"Stealing it is," Connor groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his pounding head. "I regret everything. Actually, nah, I don't."

I shook my head no and held out an empty hand. Connor sighed as he dug deep into his jean's pockets and dropped three drachmas and a stick of gum in my hand. "You owe me two more; I want the good ice cream. Not the ones that melt before I can open it," I said as I placed the coins in my pocket. Unwrapping the gum and popping it in my mouth, I chewed away at its minty flavor. "Thanks for this, though."

"No problem; you needed it," Connor waved a hand in front of his nose. "Everyone at camp could smell the garlic breadsticks you had for breakfast a mile away."

With no hesitation, I spat the wad at his face and it stuck to his nose. He screamed and began shaking his head like an angry rocker or a wet dog, trying to get it off of his face. I need to make more girl friends. Maybe Katie can teach me how to garden?

"I warned you, bro," Travis sighed. He turned to me with his shoulders crossed. "Are you gonna tell Chiron we were slacking off? The toilets should learn how to clean themselves because, by the gods, they are disgusting!"

"No," I shrugged. "I don't care; plus I slack off all the time too. Although, I wouldn't mind a little incentive to keep quiet..." I held out another empty hand. Travis merely glared as he too went through his pockets and placed a shiny drachma in the palm of my hand. "Pleasure doing business with you folks," I said happily as the coins jingled in my pocket.

Connor straightened up after finally getting the gum off of his nose. His hair was disheveled and he was heaving, out of breath. "Remind me to never hang out with you again, Astra."

I lightly punched his arm. "You started this."

"This isn't over," He pointed two fingers at his eyes, then right at me. "It's war."

I smirked, blowing my hair out of my eyes. "Bring it on."

As we continued to stare daggers at each other, a shuffle of footsteps scurried up the side of the hill. "Ooh, free money!" Someone exclaimed, and I mentally face-palmed myself. Lost a good five drachmas there. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead again, because Long Island Sound is basically an oven overcooking half-bloods, as we watched a camper trudge his way towards us.

A blonde boy stumbled over in our direction, carrying a small package in his thin arms. Somehow, he managed to trip over his own feet and landed face first in the green grass. He tried to get back up by pushing against the ground with his stick-like arms, but with all the grass up his nose, he sneezed and fell back down. The package tumbled to the base of my feet, and I picked up the brown box. Hefting it slightly, it seemed to be fairly light.

The Hermes boys ran over to the fallen kid's side. "Clovis? Is that you?" Connor lifted the son of Hypnos up by his shoulders, but Clovis merely snored and he immediately dropped the kid. "How in the world did Mr. D think that having the demigod who's constantly sleeping be the mail carrier? He could drop something fragile while he's sleepwalking."

"Does Mr. D ever think about anything other than getting out of here?" Travis replied sarcastically, waving his hands in the air as he spoke. "He just wants his wine again."

I flipped the box over to see a sticker placed on its side. Written on it was: To Astra~. With a poorly drawn heart at the end of the... Wiggle squiggle. I shuddered in disgust; gross.

Clovis lifted his head up and mumbled, "That's for you," before collapsing for the third time with a snore so loud that it shook the Earth. That boy is basically me with Malcolm's lessons.

"Travis, hand me your knife," I put out my hand. He pulled out a small, Celestial dagger out of a sheath that hung from his waist and held it with the blade facing towards me. I frowned as he snickered and placed the handle in my hand. As I cut through the tape that held the box closed, I thought for a moment. "I really don't know anyone outside of camp; who could've sent this?"

"A BOMB!" Connor screamed loudly. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

I ignored the prankster and lifted the flap. A small, silver object simply laid at the bottom of the box. It looked awfully familiar, and as I took it out of the package, a cold shiver traveled through my body. It was much worse than a bomb.

I knew exactly what this was.

Instantly, I dropped the item and smashed the heel of my boot against its reflective surface. It shattered into a thousand pieces, flying and blending into the court's sand. "Oh my gods, Astra," Travis groaned as he rolled his eyes, "If you really didn't like it, you should've broken it somewhere else. It's going to be a pain to find all those pieces–."

"Shut it, Travis," I hissed. Turning away, I began to walk away from the three and headed towards the Big House. "I have to tell Chiron."

The brothers looked at each other with a hint of confusion painting their expressions. "What?" Connor asked, finally taking the situation seriously. "What do you have to tell him?"

I swallowed nervously. Even though it was scorching, goosebumps began to prickle on my skin. I could internally feel the pieces of the Mirror of Discord stabbing at my soul from beneath the sand.

"I have to tell him that the war is about to begin."

---
guess who's back? arisa is! thanks for being patient omg; it's been a good year. unlike the arrow of light or the mirror of discord however, i doubt i can update every week. but we'll see...

it's a little difficult to get back into things; my writing style has completely changed since last year (thx forgotten deity and disappearing goddess), but let's see if we can get back into goofy, random stuff instead of serious stuff.

thanks for sticking around <3 missed you all.